Sid Caesar Working with writers Who was Sid's first writer? I don't know.
Did Sid have good working relationships with his writers?
Did Sid Caesar have good working relationships with his writers?
Steve Allen claimed, "Sid's was the show to which all comedy writers aspired. It was the place to be." While Caesar did not write his dialogue, he made all final decisions. His writers, such as Mel Brooks, felt they "had a great instrument in Caesar that we could all play, and we played it very well." As for Caesar, Nachman describes him basically as an "inspired idea man who allowed the writers to take more risks" than other TV shows. Woody Allen remembers that "...you wrote situations," instead of jokes, as in "This Is Your Story" with Carl Reiner, a parody of the popular TV show This is Your Life. It was said to be "Caesar's personal favorite" sketch.  In many cases, sketch dialogue was not even written down, but simply indicated by describing a scene, as in, "Sid does man coming home from business mad." Sometimes, said Larry Gelbart, it was "organized chaos," and when watching the writers create from offstage, felt, "...it was a religious experience." To Mel Brooks, "it was a zoo. Everyone pitched lines at Sid. Jokes would be changed fifty times." Naturally there were some explosive episodes: "Mr. Caesar once dangled a terrified Mr. Brooks from an 18th-story window until colleagues restrained him. With one punch, he knocked out a horse that had thrown his wife off its back, a scene that Mr. Brooks replayed in his movie Blazing Saddles."  Neil Simon recalled that after writing out a sketch and giving it to Caesar, "Sid would make it ten times funnier than what we wrote. Sid acted everything out, so the sketches we did were like little plays." Simon also remembered the impact that working for Caesar had on him: "The first time I saw Caesar it was like seeing a new country. All other comics were basically doing situations with farcical characters. Caesar was doing life."  Some of his writers, like Woody Allen, initially didn't like being among the large team of writers coming up with routines for Caesar, feeling it was too competitive and contributed to hostility among writers. An Allen biographer wrote that Allen "...chafed under the atmosphere of inspired spontaneity", although Allen did say that, "Writing for Caesar was the highest thing you could aspire to--at least as a TV comedy writer. Only the presidency was above that." Neil Simon noted that "we were competitive the way a family is competitive to get dad's attention. We all wanted to be Sid's favorite." As part of the competitive atmosphere in The Writer's Room, as it was called, friendship was also critical. Larry Gelbart explained:  We were able to be urbane. Between us we read every book. Between us we saw every movie. Between us we saw every play on Broadway. You could make jokes about Kafka or Tennessee Williams. We also had dinner together. We went to movies together. We were all friends. And that was very important. We appreciated each other a lot. CANNOTANSWER
" Neil Simon noted that "we were competitive the way a family is competitive to get dad's attention. We all wanted to be Sid's favorite."
Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor and writer. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: Your Show of Shows (1950–1954), which was a 90-minute weekly show watched by 60 million people and its successor, Caesar's Hour (1954–1957), both of which influenced later generations of comedians  Your Show of Shows and its cast received seven Emmy nominations between the years 1953 and 1954 and tallied two wins. He also acted in movies; he played Coach Calhoun in Grease (1978) and its sequel Grease 2 (1982) and appeared in the films It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Silent Movie (1976), History of the World, Part I (1981), Cannonball Run II (1984), and Vegas Vacation (1997).

Caesar was considered a "sketch comic" and actor, as opposed to a stand-up comedian. He also relied more on body language, accents, and facial contortions than simply dialogue. Unlike the slapstick comedy which was standard on TV, his style was considered "avant garde" in the 1950s. He conjured up ideas and scene and used writers to flesh out the concept and create the dialogue. Among the writers who wrote for Caesar early in their careers were Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, Carl Reiner, Michael Stewart, Mel Tolkin, Selma Diamond, and Woody Allen. "Sid's was the show to which all comedy writers aspired. It was the place to be," said Steve Allen.

His TV shows' subjects included satires of real life events and people, and parodies of popular film genres, theater, television shows, and opera. But unlike other comedy shows at the time, the dialogue was considered sharper, funnier, and more adult-oriented. He was "best known as one of the most intelligent and provocative innovators of television comedy," who some critics called "television's Charlie Chaplin" and The New York Times refers to as the "comedian of comedians from TV's early days."

Honored in numerous ways over 60 years, he was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards, winning twice. He was also a saxophonist and author of several books, including two autobiographies in which he described his career and later struggle to overcome years of alcoholism and addiction to barbiturates.

Early life
Caesar was the youngest of three sons. He was Jewish. He was born in Yonkers, New York. His father was Max Ziser (1874–1946) and his mother was Ida (née Raphael) (1887–1975). They likely were from Dąbrowa Tarnowska, Poland.  Reports state that the surname "Caesar" was given to Max, as a child, by an immigration official at Ellis Island. According to Marian L. Smith, senior historian of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, there is no known case of a name changed at Ellis Island.

Max and Ida Caesar ran a restaurant, a 24-hour luncheonette.
By waiting on tables, their son learned to mimic the patois, rhythm and accents of the diverse clientele, a technique he termed double-talk, which he used throughout his career. He first tried double-talk with a group of Italians, his head barely reaching above the table. They enjoyed it so much that they sent him over to a group of Poles to repeat his native-sounding patter in Polish, and so on with Russians, Hungarians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Lithuanians, and Bulgarians. Sid Caesar's older brother, David, was his comic mentor and "one-man cheering section." They created their earliest family sketches from movies of the day like Test Pilot and the 1927 silent film Wings.

At 14, Caesar went to the Catskill Mountains as a saxophonist in the Swingtime Six band with Mike Cifichello and Andrew Galos and occasionally performed in sketches in the Borscht Belt.

Career

Stage and film
After graduating from Yonkers High School in 1939, Caesar left home, intent on a musical career. He arrived in Manhattan and worked as an usher and then a doorman at the Capitol Theater there. He was ineligible to join the musicians' union in New York City until he established residency, but he found work as a saxophonist at the Vacationland Hotel, a resort located in the Catskill Mountains of Sullivan County, New York. Mentored by Don Appel, the resort's social director, Caesar played in the dance band and learned to perform comedy, doing three shows a week. He audited classes in clarinet and saxophone at the Juilliard School of Music. In 1939, he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard, and was stationed in Brooklyn, New York, where he played in military revues and shows. Caesar was discharged from the service in 1945. Vernon Duke, the composer of Autumn in New York, April in Paris, and Taking a Chance on Love, was at the same base and collaborated with Caesar on musical revues.

During the summer of 1942, Caesar met his future wife, Florence Levy, at the Avon Lodge in the Catskills village of Woodridge, New York. They were married on July 17, 1943, and had three children: Michele, Rick and Karen. After joining the musicians' union, he briefly played with Shep Fields, Claude Thornhill, Charlie Spivak, Art Mooney and Benny Goodman. Later in his career, he performed "Sing, Sing, Sing" with Goodman for a TV performance.

Still in the military, Caesar was ordered to Palm Beach, Florida, where Vernon Duke and Howard Dietz were putting together a service revue called Tars and Spars. There he met the civilian director of the show, Max Liebman. When Caesar's comedy got bigger applause than the musical numbers, Liebman asked him to do stand-up bits between the songs. Tars and Spars toured nationally, and became Caesar's first major gig as a comedian. Liebman later produced Caesar's first television series.

After finishing his military service in 1945, the Caesars moved to Hollywood. In 1946, Columbia Pictures produced a film version of Tars and Spars in which Caesar reprised his role. The next year, he acted in The Guilt of Janet Ames. He turned down the lead of The Jolson Story as he did not want to be known as an impersonator, and turned down several other offers to play sidekick roles. He soon returned to New York, where he became the opening act for Joe E. Lewis at the Copacabana nightclub. He reunited with Liebman, who guided his stage material and presentation. That job led to a contract with the William Morris Agency and a nationwide tour. Caesar also performed in a Broadway revue, Make Mine Manhattan, which featured The Five Dollar Date—one of his first original pieces, in which he sang, acted, double-talked, pantomimed, and wrote the music. He won a 1948 Donaldson Award for his contributions to the musical.

Television
Caesar's television career began with an appearance on Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater in the fall of 1948. In early 1949, Caesar and Liebman met with Pat Weaver, vice president of television at NBC, which led to Caesar's first series, Admiral Broadway Revue with Imogene Coca. The Friday show was simultaneously broadcast on NBC and the DuMont network, and was an immediate success. However, its sponsor, Admiral, an appliance company, could not keep up with the demand for its new television sets, so the show was cancelled after 26 weeks—ironically, on account of its runaway success.

On February 25, 1950, Caesar appeared in the first episode of Your Show of Shows, initially the second half of the two-hour umbrella show, Saturday Night Review; at the end of the 1950–51 season, Your Show of Shows became its own, 90-minute program from the International Theatre at 5 Columbus Circle and later The Center Theatre at Sixth Avenue and 49th Street. Burgess Meredith hosted the first two shows, and the premiere featured musical guests Gertrude Lawrence, Lily Pons and Robert Merrill. The show was a mix of sketch comedy, movie and television satires, Caesar's monologues, musical guests, and large production numbers. Guests included: Jackie Cooper, Robert Preston, Rex Harrison, Eddie Albert, Michael Redgrave, Basil Rathbone, Charlton Heston, Geraldine Page, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Pearl Bailey, Fred Allen, Benny Goodman, Lena Horne and many other stars of the time. It was also responsible for bringing together the comedy team of Caesar, Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris. Many writers also got their break creating the show's sketches, including Lucille Kallen, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Michael Stewart, Mel Tolkin and Sheldon Keller. Sid Caesar won his first Emmy in 1952. In 1951 and 1952, he was voted the United States' Best Comedian in Motion Picture Dailys TV poll. The show ended after almost 160 episodes on June 5, 1954.

A few months later, Caesar returned with Caesar's Hour, a one-hour sketch/variety show with Morris, Reiner, Bea Arthur and other members of his former crew. Nanette Fabray replaced Coca, who had left to star in her own short-lived series. Ultimate creative and technical control was now in Caesar's hands, originating from the Center Theater and the weekly budget doubled to $125,000. The premiere on September 27, 1954, featured Gina Lollobrigida. Everything was performed live, including the commercials.

Caesar's Hour was followed by ABC's short-lived Sid Caesar Invites You from January 26 to May 25, 1958. It briefly reunited Caesar, Coca, and Reiner, with Simon and Brooks among the writers.

In 1963, Caesar appeared on television, on stage, and in the movies. Several As Caesar Sees It specials evolved into the 1963–64 Sid Caesar Show (which alternated with Edie Adams in Here's Edie). He starred with Virginia Martin in the Broadway musical Little Me, with book by Simon, choreography by Bob Fosse, and music by Cy Coleman. Playing eight parts with 32 costume changes, he was nominated in 1963 for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. On film, Caesar and Adams played a husband and wife drawn into a mad race to find buried loot in Stanley Kramer's comedy ensemble It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) which became a box office success and earned six Academy Award nominations.

Style and technique
Caesar was not a stand-up comedian but a "sketch comic, and actor," wrote one historian. "He conjured up ideas and enhanced scenes, but never wrote a word," and thereby depended on his writers for dialogue. Caesar was skilled at pantomime, dialects, monologues, foreign language double-talk and general comic acting.

His sketches were often long, sometimes 10 or 15 minutes, with numerous close-ups showing the expressions on the faces of Caesar and other actors. Caesar relied more on body language, accents, and facial contortions than simply spoken dialogue. Unlike the slapstick comedy, which was standard on TV, his style was considered avant garde. Caesar "...was born with the ability to write physical poetry," notes comedian Steve Allen, a technique like that used for a silent film comedian. An example of this "silent film" style is a live sketch with Nanette Fabray, where they both pantomime an argument choreographed to the music of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

Writer Mel Tolkin stated that Caesar "didn't like one-line jokes in sketches because he felt that if the joke was a good one, anybody could do it. One-liners would take him away from what drove his personal approach to comedy." Larry Gelbart called Caesar's style theatrical, and called him "...a pure TV comedian." In describing his control during the live performances, actress Nanette Fabray recalled that unlike most comedians, such as Red Skelton, Bob Hope or Milton Berle, Caesar always stayed in character: "He was so totally into the scene he never lost it."

Caesar was able to pantomime a wide variety of things: a tire, a gumball machine, a lion, a dog, a punching bag, a telephone, an infant, an elevator, a railroad train, a herd of horses, a piano, a rattlesnake and a bottle of seltzer. On the Dick Clark show in 1978, he played a chewing gum machine and a slot machine. He was also able to create imaginary characters. Alfred Hitchcock compared him to Charlie Chaplin, and critic John Crosby felt "he could wrench laughter out of you with the violence of his great eyes and the sheer immensity of his parody." In an article in The Saturday Evening Post in 1953, show business biographer Maurice Zolotow noted that "Caesar relies upon grunts and grimaces to express a vast range of emotions."

Of his double-talk routines, Carl Reiner said, "His ability to doubletalk every language known to man was impeccable," and during one performance Caesar imitated four different languages but with almost no real words. Despite his apparent fluency in many languages, Caesar could actually speak only English and Yiddish. In 2008, Caesar told a USA Today reporter, "Every language has its own music ... If you listen to a language for 15 minutes, you know the rhythm and song." Having developed this mimicry skill, he could create entire monologues using gibberish in numerous languages, as he did in a skit in which he played a German general.

Subjects
Among his primary subjects were parodies and spoofs of various film genres, including gangster films, westerns, newspaper dramas, spy movies and other TV shows. Unlike other comedy shows at the time, the dialogue on his shows were considered sharper, funnier and more adult oriented. In his sketches for Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, he would also typically "skewer the minutiae of domestic life" along with lampooning popular or classic movies.

Contemporary movies, foreign movies, theater, television shows and opera were targets of satire by the writing team. Often the publicity generated by the sketches boosted the box office of the original productions. Some notable sketches included: "From Here to Obscurity" (From Here to Eternity), "Aggravation Boulevard" (Sunset Boulevard), "Hat Basterson" (Bat Masterson), and "No West for the Wicked" (Stagecoach).

They also performed some recurring sketches. "The Hickenloopers", television's first bickering-couple sketch, predated The Honeymooners. As "The Professor", Caesar was the daffy expert who bluffed his way through his interviews with earnest roving reporter Carl Reiner. In its various incarnations, "The Professor" could be Gut von Fraidykat (mountain-climbing expert), Ludwig von Spacebrain (space expert), or Ludwig von Henpecked (marriage expert). Later, "The Professor" was inspiration for Mel Brooks' "The Two Thousand Year Old Man". The most prominent recurring sketch on the show was "The Commuters", which featured Caesar, Reiner, and Morris involved with everyday working and suburban life situations. Years later, the sketch "Sneaking through the Sound Barrier", a parody of the British film The Sound Barrier, ran continuously as part of a display on supersonic flight at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Working with writers

Steve Allen claimed, "Sid's was the show to which all comedy writers aspired. It was the place to be." While Caesar did not write his dialogue, he made all final decisions. His writers, such as Mel Brooks, felt they "had a great instrument in Caesar that we could all play, and we played it very well." As for Caesar, Nachman describes him basically as an "inspired idea man who allowed the writers to take more risks" than other TV shows. Woody Allen remembers that "...you wrote situations," instead of jokes, as in "This Is Your Story" with Carl Reiner, a parody of the popular TV show This is Your Life. It was said to be "Caesar's personal favorite" sketch.

In many cases, sketch dialogue was not even written down, but simply indicated by describing a scene, as in, "Sid does man coming home from business mad." Sometimes, said Larry Gelbart, it was "organized chaos," and when watching the writers create from offstage, felt, "...it was a religious experience." To Mel Brooks, "it was a zoo. Everyone pitched lines at Sid. Jokes would be changed fifty times." Naturally there were some explosive episodes: "Mr. Caesar once dangled a terrified Mr. Brooks from an 18th-story window until colleagues restrained him. With one punch, he knocked out a horse that had thrown his wife off its back, a scene that Mr. Brooks replayed in his movie Blazing Saddles."

Neil Simon recalled that after writing out a sketch and giving it to Caesar, "Sid would make it ten times funnier than what we wrote. Sid acted everything out, so the sketches we did were like little plays." Simon also remembered the impact that working for Caesar had on him: "The first time I saw Caesar it was like seeing a new country. All other comics were basically doing situations with farcical characters. Caesar was doing life."

Some of his writers, like Woody Allen, initially didn't like being among the large team of writers coming up with routines for Caesar, feeling it was too competitive and contributed to hostility among writers. An Allen biographer wrote that Allen "...chafed under the atmosphere of inspired spontaneity", although Allen did say that, "Writing for Caesar was the highest thing you could aspire to—at least as a TV comedy writer. Only the presidency was above that." Neil Simon noted that "we were competitive the way a family is competitive to get dad's attention. We all wanted to be Sid's favorite." As part of the competitive atmosphere in The Writer's Room, as it was called, friendship was also critical. Larry Gelbart explained:

Impact on television
Nachman concludes that "the Caesar shows were the crème de la crème of fifties television," as they were "studded with satire, and their sketches sharper, edgier, more sophisticated than the other variety shows." Likewise, historian Susan Murray notes that Caesar was "...best known as one of the most intelligent and provocative innovators of television comedy."

According to actress Nanette Fabray, who acted alongside Caesar, "He was the first original TV comedy creation." His early shows were the "...gold standard for TV sketch comedy." In 1951, Newsweek noted that according to "the opinion of lots of smart people, Caesar is the best that TV has to offer," while Zolotow, in his 1953 profile for The Saturday Evening Post, wrote that "in temperament, physique, and technique of operation, Caesar represents a new species of comedian."

However, his positive impact on television became a negative one for Broadway. Caesar fans preferred to stay home on Saturday nights to watch his show instead of seeing live plays. "The Caesar show became such a Saturday-night must-see habit—the Saturday Night Live of its day," states Nachman, that "...Broadway producers begged NBC to switch the show to midweek." Comedy star Carol Burnett, who later had her own hit TV show, remembers winning tickets to see My Fair Lady on Broadway: "I gave the tickets to my roommate because I said, Fair Lady's gonna be running for a hundred years, but Sid Caesar is live and I'll never see that again."

Faded success and personal problems
After nearly 10 years as a prime-time star of television comedy with Your Show of Shows followed by Caesar's Hour, his stardom ended rapidly and he nearly disappeared from the spotlight. Nachman describes this period:

Caesar himself felt, "It had all come too fast, was too easy, and he didn't deserve the acclaim." Writer Mel Brooks, who also became his close friend, said, "I know of no other comedian, including Chaplin, who could have done nearly ten years of live television. Nobody's talent was ever more used up than Sid's. He was one of the greatest artists ever born. But over a period of years, television ground him into sausages."

In 1977, after blacking out during a stage performance of Neil Simon's The Last of the Red Hot Lovers in Regina, Saskatchewan, Caesar gave up alcohol "cold turkey". In his 1982 autobiography, Where Have I Been?, and his second book, Caesar's Hours, he chronicled his struggle to overcome his alcoholism and addiction to sleeping pills.

Later years
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Caesar continued to make occasional television and theatrical appearances and starred in several movies including Silent Movie and History of the World, Part I (both reuniting him with Mel Brooks), Airport 1975, and as Coach Calhoun in Grease and its sequel Grease 2 in 1982. In 1971, he starred opposite Carol Channing and a young Tommy Lee Jones in the Broadway show Four on a Garden.

In 1973, Caesar reunited with Imogene Coca for the stage play, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, written in 1971 by Neil Simon. Their play opened in Chicago in August 1973. That same year, Caesar and Max Liebman mined their own personal kinescopes from Your Show of Shows (NBC had lost the studio copies) and they produced a feature film Ten From Your Show of Shows, a compilation of some of their best sketches. In 1974, Caesar said, "I'd like to be back every week" on TV and appeared in the NBC skit-based comedy television pilot called Hamburgers.

In 1980, he appeared as a double-talking Japanese father for Mei and Kei's Pink Lady and opposite Jeff Altman in the Pink Lady and Jeff show.

In 1983, Caesar hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live, where he received a standing ovation at the start of the show and was awarded a plaque at the conclusion of the show declaring him an honorary cast member. He released an exercise video, Sid Caesar's Shape Up!, in 1985. In 1987–89, Caesar appeared as Frosch the Jailer in Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1987, Caesar starred in the David Irving film The Emperor's New Clothes with Robert Morse as the Tailor. Caesar remained active by appearing in movies, television and award shows, including the movie The Great Mom Swap in 1995.

In 1996, the Writers Guild of America, West reunited Caesar with nine of his writers from Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour for a two-hour panel discussion featuring head writer Mel Tolkin, Caesar, Carl Reiner, Aaron Ruben, Larry Gelbart, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Sheldon Keller, and Gary Belkin. The event was taped, broadcast on PBS in the United States and the BBC in the UK, and later released as a DVD titled Caesar's Writers.

In 1997, he made a guest appearance in Vegas Vacation and, the following year, in The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit in 1998 based on a Ray Bradbury novel. Also that year, Caesar joined fellow television icons Bob Hope and Milton Berle at the 50th anniversary of the Primetime Emmy Awards. Billy Crystal also paid tribute to Caesar that night when he won an Emmy for hosting that year's Oscar telecast, recalling seeing Caesar doing a parody of Yul Brynner in The King & I on Your Show of Shows. Caesar performed his double-talk in a "foreign dub" skit on the November 21, 2001 episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway?

On September 7, 2001, Caesar, Carl Reiner and Nanette Fabray appeared on CNN's live interview program Larry King Live along with actor, comedian and improvisationist Drew Carey.

In 2003, he joined Edie Adams and Marvin Kaplan at a 40th anniversary celebration for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. In 2004, Caesar's second autobiography, Caesar's Hours, was published, and in 2006, Billy Crystal presented Caesar with the TV Land Awards' Pioneer Award. In what TV Land called "...a hilarious, heartfelt, multilingual, uncut acceptance speech," Caesar performed his double-talk for over five minutes.

In a November 2009 article in the Toluca Lake, California, Tolucan Times, columnist Greg Crosby described a visit with Caesar and his wife Florence at their home. Of the couple's meeting, Florence said, "Well, I thought he was nice for the summer ... I thought he would be just a nice boyfriend for the summer. He was cute-looking and tall, over six feet.... I was in my last year at Hunter College; we were still dating when Sid went into the service, the Coast Guard. Luckily he was stationed in New York so we were able to continue seeing each other, even though my parents weren't too happy about it. They never thought he would amount to anything, that he'd never have a real career or make any money. But we were married one year after we met, in July of 1943." She also pointed out, "You know, he's not funny all the time. He can be very serious." At the time of the interview, the couple had been married for 66 years. Florence Caesar died on March 3, 2010, aged 88.

Personal life
Caesar was married to Florence Levy for 67 years until her death in 2010. Caesar asserted that he was "proud to be Jewish" and that "Jews have a good sense of humour. Jews appreciate humour because in their life it's not too funny. We've been trodden down for a long time, thousands of years. So we've had to turn that around because if you take it all too seriously you're going to eat yourself. And we're very good at being self-deprecating. Either we do it or somebody's going to do it for us. We might as well do it first."

Death
Caesar died on February 12, 2014, at his home in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 91, after a short illness.

On Caesar's death, Carl Reiner said, "He was the ultimate, he was the very best sketch artist and comedian that ever existed." Mel Brooks commented, "Sid Caesar was a giant, maybe the best comedian who ever practiced the trade. And I was privileged to be one of his writers and one of his friends." Jon Stewart and The Daily Show paid tribute to Caesar at the show's close on February 12, 2014. Vanity Fair republished a brief tribute written by Billy Crystal in August 2005, in which he said of Caesar and his contemporaries:

His interment was at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery. He was predeceased by his wife, Florence (2010) and survived by his children Karen, Michelle, and Rick, and two grandsons. His son, Dr Richard (Rick) Caesar died several months after his father on July 16, 2014.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Honors 
 1960: Caesar was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 
 1985: Caesar was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame

In 2005, The Humane Society of the United States honored Caesar by establishing the "Sid Caesar Award for Television Comedy" among the Genesis Awards given annually to individuals in major news and entertainment media who produce outstanding works that raise public awareness of animal issues. In announcing the 2014 Genesis Award winners on February 14, 2014, the Society paid special homage to Caesar, whom the Society credited as one of its most dedicated supporters.

References

Further reading
 Sid Caesar and Eddy Friedfeld: Caesar's Hours: My Life in Comedy, with Love and Laughter, January 30, 2005.

External links

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sid Caesar at the Comedy Hall of Fame

1922 births
2014 deaths
People from Yonkers, New York
People from Beverly Hills, California
Male actors from New York City
American autobiographers
American humorists
American male comedians
American male film actors
American male musical theatre actors
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
American male television actors
American saxophonists
American male saxophonists
Donaldson Award winners
Jewish American male actors
Jewish male comedians
Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
United States Coast Guard enlisted
20th-century American male actors
United States Coast Guard Band musicians
Comedians from New York City
Jewish American comedians
Comedians from California
20th-century American comedians
American comics writers
Mad (magazine) people
United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II
21st-century American Jews
Members of The Lambs Club
Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery
Dr. Sid Vere is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera Doctors, portrayed by Ashley Rice. Sid made his first appearance on 27 April 2015 as an F2 doctor at the fictional Mill Health Centre. His storylines in the programme have included his relationships with colleagues Ayesha Lee (Laura Rollins) and Zara Carmichael (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) and discovering his brother, Laurence Richards (Rishard Beckett). For his role as Sid, Rice has been nominated for various accolades including Newcomer at the 21st National Television Awards and the British Soap Award for Best Actor in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Characterisation
In an interview with the BBC, Rice commented on his similarities to Sid, saying: "Both of us will talk to anyone, and more often than not for a little too long. But I think we do it for different reasons. [Sid] just has to fill the silence. He is smarter than me, and that's always difficult, playing someone more intellectual than you, but he sometimes really struggles to read people so I have to be oblivious to certain things. Most challenging aspect would be his energy. I'm laid back and he's not. Finding it and using that energy well is sometimes tricky, and now having watched some scenes back, I still think it needs more. But we'll get there eventually. I hope." When asked for his opinion on his character, Rice stated: "Oh, he's so annoying, isn't he? I annoy myself playing him sometimes. And despite being quite bright he can completely miss the point sometimes. But he does have a good heart and only wants to do his best. I had a help from the directors in finding and using Sid's nervous energy, one in particular springs to mind." He added: "the hardest part is thinking and speaking as quickly as he does, he doesn't pause for breath. So, if I stutter, pause or drop the ball when I shouldn't, it's back to the top."

Storylines
Sid arrives at The Mill in April 2015 as an F2 doctor having completed two prior placements before working there. Heston Carter (Owen Brenman) wants to be Sid's mentor, but Howard Bellamy (Ian Kelsey) allocates him Zara Carmichael (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh). Zara preys upon his insecurities and bullies him, telling him to reconsider his occupation. After being verbally abused by a patient, Sid talks to Heston, finding him easier to talk to than Zara. Sid begins to date colleague Ayesha Lee (Laura Rollins), but when he tries to move the relationship too quickly, Ayesha dumps him. Eventually, Sid leaves The Mill and launches an action against Zara for bullying in the workplace. Several months later, a newly qualified Sid returns to The Mill and takes up a position as a GP. Sid and Zara resolve their differences.

After the 2018 Christmas party, Sid goes home with Zara, and the pair have sex. Zara's partner Daniel Granger (Matthew Chambers) sees and does not react. However, when they are at The Mill, Daniel lashes out and punches Sid. Sid collapses at The Mill, and arsenic is found in his blood. Ayesha suspects that he has been poisoned by patient Charlotte Hill (Debra Stephenson).

Sid discovers that his parents Estelle (Suzette Llewellyn) and Tye Vere (Daniel Hill) had another child before Sid was born. After reading their confidential medical notes, it is revealed that his brother, Laurence Richards (Rishard Beckett), has Down's syndrome, and that Estelle and Tye left him at the hospital as a newborn. Sid manages to track him down, where Laurence explains that he is happy with his life. When Imogen Hollins (Charlie Clemmow) is in Letherbridge, the pair flirt with each other. When Imogen's mother, Karen Hollins (Jan Pearson), finds out, she is initially unhappy due to Sid's relationship history. However, when Karen's husband Rob Hollins (Chris Walker) persuades her that Sid is a reliable person, Karen sets them up. When Sid and Imogen have sex, he discovers a lump on her breast. He does an inspection, and refers her to a private clinic. Despite Imogen not having cancer, the pair agree that the spark in the relationship has gone due to the incident.

Reception
At the 21st National Television Awards, Rice was longlisted for the Newcomer award. For his portrayal of Sid, Rice was longlisted for Best Actor at the British Soap Awards in 2017, 2018 and 2019. He was also shortlisted for Best Male Acting Performance at the 2019 RTS Midlands Awards.

References

External links
 Sid Vere at BBC Online

Doctors (2000 TV series) characters
Fictional physicians
Fictional victims of crime
Television characters introduced in 2015 Sid Sumner is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Billy Price, who made his first appearance on 9 May 2019. He is introduced as the son of recurring character Stuart Sumner (Chris Simmons) and joins several established characters when he joins Hollyoaks High. He initially appears as part of the show's high profile far-right extremism storyline in a guest role but was promoted to a series regular after it concluded when the producers began to plot a year-long county lines drug trafficking storyline.  

In addition to the far-right and drug trafficking plots, Sid's other notable storylines include his adoption by Leela Lomax (Kirsty-Leigh Porter), his ambitions to become a singer-songwriter, a relationship and later friendship with Juliet Nightingale (Niamh Blackshaw) and his subsequent heartbreak when she comes out as a lesbian and becoming an amputee after his leg is run over by Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell) while he is under the influence of ketamine.

Casting and characterisation
Price's casting was officially announced on 9 May 2019 as part of the show's ongoing extremism plot starring Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson), with news outlets noting that Sid would immediately start making racist comments towards fellow student Imran Maalik. It was subsequently revealed on 17 October 2019 that Price had been promoted to a series regular following the conclusion of the far-right storyline, stating that "the County Lines plot will be one of Hollyoaks' biggest stories of 2020, involving all of the young characters and the much-loved families. Alongside familiar faces like Romeo, Tom, Charlie and Ella, we'll see Sid closely involved in the dramatic year-long storyline". Impressed by Price's work during the extremism storyline, the writers decided they wanted to give Sid a big, hard-hitting storyline and develop his character by introducing Connor Callard as his cousin Jordan Price, a drug dealer who would draw Sid into the world of county lines drug trafficking.

Storylines
When Sid's father Stuart moves to Hollyoaks, Sid is enrolled at Hollyoaks High, where he harasses Muslim student Imran Maalik (Ijaz Rana) after hearing his father argue with Imran's family. Sid then reports Imran to headteacher Sally St. Claire (Annie Wallace) for threatening to blow up the school, which Imran has not done. An investigation is made by the anti-extremist group Prevent into Sid's claim, which is deemed to be malicious. Imran admits to Sally that Sid has been racially abusive towards him. He also launches a prejudiced attack on Scott Drinkwell (Ross Adams) while he is dressed in drag. Sid later befriends Juliet Quinn (Niamh Blackshaw) and asks her on a date. As he plans to meet Juliet, Stuart asks him to watch Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson), who is trying to leave Stuart's far-right extremist group, and ensure he does not leave. Sid disobeys his orders and meets Juliet, allowing Ste to leave briefly. The date ends badly as Sid is cautious about having left Ste. When Juliet returns Sid's wallet to him in front of Stuart, she unintentionally reveals that he left Ste; Stuart then beats Sid as punishment.

After Ste attempts to flee to Newcastle, he and Sami Maalik (Rishi Nair) are kidnapped by Stuart and Jonny Baxter (Ray Quinn) and taken to a cliff. Sid, realizing how far his father has gone and wanting to make amends, warns those in attendance at Sami's wedding about Stuart and Jonny's intentions and Sid subsequently accompanies Leela Lomax (Kirsty-Leigh Porter), Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell) and Azim Desai (Nav Sidhu) to the cliff to save Ste and Sami. When they arrive, Jonny chases after Ste who has escaped. At the cliff's edge, Stuart accuses Sid of betrayal and as he attempts to push Ste from the cliff, Sid intervenes and pushes Stuart from the cliff, saving Ste and killing Stuart. Sid breaks down in tears and is arrested for Stuart's murder. Sami becomes his lawyer and persuades Sid to tell the truth when he tells the police that he intentionally killed Stuart, believing his life is worthless. When he returns to the village, Leela offers him a home, but he rejects her offer, claiming that he does not deserve her kindness.

Sid confesses to Juliet that he is homeless, so Juliet asks teaching assistant Sienna Blake (Anna Passey) to help Sid. She invites Sid to stay at her flat, which Sienna's sister, Liberty Savage (Jessamy Stoddart), and partner, Brody Hudson (Adam Woodward), disagree with. Sid later brings a knife into their home, creating an argument with Liberty and Brody. During the argument, Sienna returns home with Sid's stepmother, Alice (Stacy Liu), who had decided to let him live with her, but she changes her mind upon witnessing the argument. Sid admits to Sienna that he was beaten and robbed and had the knife because he was scared; Sienna relates to Sid and decides to foster him. When Liberty and Brody refuse to accept Sid, he leaves the flat. When Juliet cancels a date with Sid, he begins feeling upset and unloved, and asks drug dealer Liam Donovan (Jude Monk McGowan) for drugs. Liam initially refuses, but eventually relents and the drugs later make Sid ill. Believing Sid is a bad influence, Juliet's brother, James Nightingale (Gregory Finnegan), bans Juliet from seeing him and, Sid later sneaks Juliet out of school, they are caught by Juliet's brother Romeo Quinn (Owen Warner), who warns Sid to stay away from Juliet. Sid and Juliet kiss and have sex on Christmas Eve, and later that night, Leela asks Sid if she can foster him; he accepts and moves into her house. Sid then meets with his cousin, Jordan Price (Connor Calland), who offers him drugs. Jordan later reveals that he is involved in a county lines drug trafficking operation, and blackmails both Sid and Juliet into delivering and selling drugs. In order to protect him, Juliet takes charge of the selling so that Sid is not involved. The pair break up when Juliet comes out to Sid, saying that she is a lesbian and has romantic feelings for Peri, which greatly upsets Sid though to two remain close friends.

When the school is searched for drugs, Sid hides Juliet's stash in his locker so she isn't incriminated, which causes him to be late for his music exam. The police find Sid's drugs and Jordan forces him to tell Sally they were for personal use and she expels him. Angry and hoping to save Juliet from the operation, Sid reports Jordan to the police, who promises to ruin Sid's life when he learns of his cousin's betrayal. In order to distract his mind from his breakup with Juliet and Jordan, Sid takes ketamine, and collapses on the street, where a distracted Peri drives over his leg. Sid is distraught upon waking up in hospital when Misbah Maalik (Harvey Virdi) informs his that his leg later has to be amputated in order to prevent infection. He initially refuses the surgery and finds it difficult to come to terms with what has happened  to him though, with emotional support from Ste, Peri and Juliet, he eventually agrees to sign the consent form.

After a few weeks at a rehab center, Sid returns to the village but struggles to adjust to his new life as a disabled person, leading him to seek advice from Courtney Campbell (Amy Conachan). As he continues physiotherapy, he is comforted by Ste, Leela, Peri and Juliet and goes on to start a band with Brooke Hathaway (Tylan Grant) and Imran Maalik (Ijaz Rana) who ask for his help when they are hired to play at the wedding of Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins) and Yasmine Maalik (Haiesha Mistry). As the drug trafficking intensifies, Jordan's boss Victor Brothers (Benjamin O'Mahony) orders Jordan to murder Sid and Juliet, who tried to record Victor so that she could blackmail him and get herself and Sid out of the operation. Jordan meets Sid and Juliet in the café and promises to stand up to Victor, despite knowing that Victor will kill him in retaliation. Sid says a tearful goodbye but Jordan is later accidentally murdered by Ella Richardson (Erin Palmer), while Juliet is subsequently arrested for her role in the operation. Ste helps Sid to grieve for Jordan and he becomes hell-bent on doing whatever it takes to get Juliet out of prison by going after Victor but he is talked down by Ste and James. Sid resumes drug dealing with Victor in order to gather enough information to incriminate him. However, Ollie informs Victor of Sid’s intentions, resulting in Victor cornering Sid in the car park of the Dog in the Pond and stabbing him. Sid is revealed to be alive two weeks later after surviving the attack and working with Ste to help bring Victor down.

Development

Extremism
When discussing why Sid supports his father, Price explained that Sid has been brought up to believe that "you should always be loyal to your family" because Stuart intentionally isolated him from others so that he could instill him with his racist views. When Sid betrays Stuart, Price noted that "Even though Sid didn’t agree with what his dad, Stuart was doing, he still stuck by him, right until the last moment. Sid is very loyal, although misplaced, until it’s at the tipping point". In an interview with Metro, Price reflected on the moment Sid killed his father in order to save Ste noting that "I think what’s going through his head is to save Ste, because as much as Ste is part of the group, he’s been groomed into it all. I think him and Sid get quite close towards the end and he feels as if they’re both in kind of the same situation, as Sid’s been brought up in this lifestyle, and Ste’s been dragged into this lifestyle — and there’s no escape for either of them". He also explains how Sid's upbringing ultimately influences his decision, stating that "I always say you’re a product of your own environment. Sid’s been brought up around them views. If your parents tell you ‘this is right and this right’ and then you’re going to just believe it, as that’s what your parents say and you think they’re always right.’ ‘I think that plays a huge part in what happens at the end, because — as much as what happens is horrible, it’s kind of relief." 

Following Stuart's death, Price expressed excitement about Sid's future, adding that "now that his dad’s gone, Sid can find himself as his own person. Get to make his own opinions about life, his own views, and he can like who he wants to like. He has that freedom now to just be his own person, which is really nice because that gives me a chance as an actor and Sid, as a character, to play with all the new stuff that he hasn’t been able to do before. Hollyoaks are definitely exploring his vulnerability quite a lot, so it’s really nice as an actor to be a part of that.  There is so much area there for them to explore with Sid — what happened with his dad, the vulnerability, the relationships he’s never been able to have, the views that he used to have that he now needs to get over. There’s literally so much and I think it’ll be a great chance for them to create a new character that everyone wants to get to know". 

Of Sid's first big storyline, Price remarked that he felt "honoured to have been involved in the far-right story. If you don't tackle problems that occur in everyday life, you're never going to learn and move on from them. If you just beat around the bush, then it could keep happening. I think it's great that a national TV show like Hollyoaks has addressed it. We have a younger audience and we're teaching them this is wrong from a very early age."

Relationships
Sid's first romantic connection is with classmate Juliet, with whom he begins a relationship with. However, when Juliet does not feel ready to have sex with him, he labels her frigid which leads to Juliet questioning their relationship and her sexuality in general, and the pair break up. Of this development, Price noted that "Sid’s not as naïve as everyone thinks. At the minute he’s doing all the chasing with Juliet, but there’s only so much he can do without getting something back, and this is where he starts to realise that maybe that interest is somewhere else". Sid confesses that he still loves her but she then admits to him that she is a lesbian. Although heartbroken, Sid supports Juliet and promises that it won't change anything between them.  Niamh Blackshaw, who plays Juliet, noted that at that point, their dynamic changed from a romantic one to that of a friendship. She stated that Juliet and Sid have a "really good friendship", and are "soul mates rather than lovers", with "no romance between them". When the pair became involved in the county lines storyline, Blackshaw added that without Sid supporting her, Juliet would "crumble", adding: "It's only because the two of them work as a team that they're able to go to a local party, and they manage to do what is asked of them."

Drug trafficking
When the county lines storyline was announced, Price stated that he "was excited and to be a big part of it is a pleasure. It’s the same with the radicalisation storyline, it was so good because it was such a relevant topic that everyone needed to chat about. I’ve been a part of two strong storylines, I’m very, very lucky and honoured because they’re big, big topics in the news". He later expanded upon some of Sid's decision making adding that "Sid’s decided to work for Jordan because he just wants to protect Juliet, which is kind of cute. Even though she’s clearly not interested in him, he cares about her and wants her to be alright. He knows what Jordan’s like and knows how manipulative he can be, so Sid’s keeping an eye out for her. Sid doesn’t have any family left apart from Jordan. Sid has been brought up to think that blood is thicker than water". He also added that Sid feels pressure to save Juliet because "he thinks she needs to watch herself and watch out for Jordan. But she gets manipulated, she falls in love with that lifestyle and she's trapped in this bubble. Trying to get her out of it is very difficult". Of the dynamic between Sid and Jordan, Price added that "you get the vibe that Sid doesn’t want to be working for Jordan and when Jordan asks him to do something, Sid will answer back a bit because he thinks he can. But then he has to put on a front, he has to sell the drugs and deal with bad people. Sid’s getting himself in too deep".

Disability
When it was announced that Hollyoaks was going to make Sid an amputee following an accident while under the influence of drugs, many television critics expressed their hope that the show would do the storyline justice and would avoid the pitfalls that fellow soaps EastEnders, Emmerdale and Coronation Street had fallen into when dealing with disabled characters, especially those played by able-bodied actors, such as finding "miracle" cures to get out of exploring the character's experiences, not giving disabled characters as much screen time or important storylines as the other characters, defining a character by their disability or portraying disabled characters as miserable all the time because of their condition. Digital Spy praised Hollyoaks for giving Sid agency by allowing him to make the decision to sign the amputation forms and having him seek out advice and support online.

Describing what leads Sid to take ketamine in the first place, Price explained that "Juliet is Sid's best friend, and he was there for her when she told him she was gay so when Sid finds out that she's been with another guy, it seems as if he's not good enough. It hits him hard, and that's when he's ready to just give up on everything" and that this betrayal, coupled with how Sid is "terrified" and "scared for his life" of Jordan telling his boss Victor that Sid called the police on Jordan causes Sid to end up "going down a dark path" and that "everything just builds and builds". Following the amputation, Price notes how the accident affects Sid's mental state, describing how "Sid was worried about what people thought of him before – however, after this, he feels as though all eyes are on him. All of a sudden people start judging him, and he begins to feel like an outsider".

Melissa Parker from Digital Spy praised Hollyoaks portrayal of disability because they do not treat "disabled people as one-dimensional props but as living, breathing people living mundane lives." Parker opined that other shows could learn from Hollyoaks, "especially when it comes to ableism, discrimination in favour of non-disabled people, as this is something that people with disabilities experience every day and is rarely discussed in the media."

References

Hollyoaks characters
Fictional amputees
Fictional drug dealers
Fictional musicians
Male characters in television
Teenage characters in television
Television characters introduced in 2019